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Download and install Spotify for Windows, if necessary.
Log in to Spotify. That will allow Spotify to sign into your account automatically, without you having to log on manually each time.
That will be necessary when Spotify is running in the background as an unattended service.
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Start AlwaysUp.
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Select Application > Add to open the Add Application window:
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On the General tab:
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In the Application field, enter the full path to the Spotify executable, Spotify.exe.
This is installed in your personal "Roaming" folder, so the path will look like this:
C:\Users\[USER-NAME]\AppData\Roaming\Spotify\Spotify.exe
where [USER-NAME] is the account name you specify when logging in to Windows.
We're logged in as "Mike Jones" for this guide, so that name will appear in our path.
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In the Start the application field, select Automatically, but shortly after the computer boots.
Spotify will start a couple of minutes after a reboot — after critical windows services
(such as event logging and networking) have fully initialized and are ready to go.
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In the Name field, enter the name that you will call the application in AlwaysUp.
We have stuck with the default of Spotify but you can specify a different name if you prefer.
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Click over to the Logon tab and enter the user name and password of the account in which you installed and configured Spotify.
Spotify must run in this account so that it can find its settings.
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Move to the Startup tab and check the Ensure that the Windows Networking components have started box.
This informs AlwaysUp that the Spotify windows client needs the TCP/IP networking stack to operate.
We also recommend checking the sub-options, to ensure that only a single copy of Spotify is active in your account at any time:
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Move to the Extras tab, check the Wait for up to box and enter 15 seconds.
This will give Spotify a bit more time to shut down whenever you stop it from AlwaysUp.
It seemed to take a while on our computer.
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We are done configuring Spotify, so click the Save button to record your settings.
In a couple of seconds, an application called Spotify will show up in the AlwaysUp window.
It is not yet running though and the state will be "Stopped":
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Before we start Spotify as a service, let's deactivate the option that starts Spotify after you log in.
You won't need that anymore.
- Start Spotify.
- Click your profile icon in the upper right and select Settings from the menu.
- Scroll down to the Startup and window behavior section.
- Set the Open Spotify after you log in to this computer value to No:
- Exit Spotify.
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To start Spotify from AlwaysUp, choose Application > Start "Spotify".
After a few seconds, the entry's state should transition to "Running":
Note that Spotify will be working in the background
(in the isolated Session 0)
so you won't see it on your desktop.
If you wish to start Spotify visibly on your desktop, select Application > Restart "Spotify" in this session.
After a few seconds, Spotify will appear as normal.
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That's it! Next time your computer boots, Spotify will start up immediately, before anyone logs on.
We encourage you to edit Spotify in AlwaysUp and check out the many other settings that may be appropriate for your environment.
For example,
send an email if Spotify crashes or stops for any reason,
boost the priority of the underlying process,
restart the media player nightly to cure memory leaks,
and much more.
